Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with a Gingerbread Crumb Crust

Pumpkin pie is traditional for the season, but I went for a new take and made pumpkin ice cream pie! The gingerbread crust is a flavorful addition. 

I simply have to tell a horribly funny story.....well, funny for foodies. 

Yesterday was my office's "Christmas Party" which is a Christmas party, because our boss is staunch that saying "happy holidays" is wrong! Wrong I tell you! WRONG!.....I celebrate Christmas. I do. His vigor is far past insensitivity. In most ways he's a Scrooge, but heaven forbid you wish him a happy holiday.....in any event, a holiday lunch at The Palm. 

So, the waiter comes over to tell us the specials. He tells us that the soup of the day is a vichyssoise. He has to repeat it to every other person because the restaurant is so crowded and loud. So I hear him explain, not once, not twice, but five times that the vichyssoise is like a corn chowder with lobster. I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking the waiter how much corn France grows annually. I know the answer but it's not an obvious one. In fact France is the 6th largest corn producer in the world, and has been growing corn since the 1550s. However, I also know the cultural stigmas surrounding corn and that only in the last few decades has it become a somewhat accepted vegetable. None of these facts changes the point that Vichyssoise is a leek and potato soup. 

Each time he kept explaining that a vichyssoise was a warm corn chowder I laughed on the inside....and of course, I ordered it. I actually had the audacity to call the front desk and ask them what the soup of the day was. They told me it was a corn bisque with lobster. Close enough. The soup was closer to a bisque than a chowder. Our waiter had to have been new. Either way, I was amused. The soup conundrum kept me laughing for the rest of day. 

Okay, so none of that has to do with ice cream, and I can see no way to segue into it. So, I won't. 

Cheers!

Pumpkin Ice Cream 

2 eggs

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

pinch of kosher salt

1 cup pumpkin puree 

2 cups cream

1 cup whole milk 

15 small gingerbread cookies

3 tablespoons melted butter

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar.  Beat for one minute until light and fluffy. 

Gently mix in the cream, milk, pumpkin and seasonings. 

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions, or into an gingerbread pie crust to freeze. 

To make a gingerbread crust simply crumble gingerbread cookies and drizzle some melted butter onto the crumbs. Mix together and press into a pie mold. Layer ice cream over top and allow to chill until just set. Serve immediately.